ManifestAR @ ZERO1 Biennial 2012: Will Pappenheimer

“Signs Over Semiconductors,” Will Pappenheimer

YOU MAY KNOW Silicon Valley for its highly successful companies developing computers, software, semiconductors, and venture capital. But many of these companies remain distant and inaccessible in addition to being physically dispersed throughout a large area. YOU MAY WONDER about these mysterious fortresses, approachable only to those who work within. YOU FEEL their influence deeply embedded in your everyday life.

SOMETIMES YOU WANT TO visit these companies, to meet them or at least to talk to them. Maybe to tell them why YOU LOVE THEM or maybe to give them some (constructive) criticism about THE THINGS YOU THINK they do that aren’t right. You know that IF YOU GO through the Support Menu, YOUR THOUGHTS will never be heard.

But with Skywite AR, YOU CAN SAY SOMETHING or ask a question and have it written huge in virtual sky smoke above the company. They will have to pay attention.

Maybe SOME OF YOU DON’T WISH to say something in particular, YOU MIGHT DECIDE TO JUST DRAW A PICTURE over the company’s headquarters. That’s fine. YOU CAN DO THAT too. Then a Skywite AR plane will draw your giant picture over their building.

What you say to them, what you draw, will last until the next person wants to have their turn. I hope that’s OK WITH YOU, it’s the best we can do for now.

Set up notes: Both San Jose and Lewisburg will have drawing terminals to create Skywriting in Silicon Valley. The list of Silicon Valley companies will be provided to select from. Lewisburg will have a good visualization of what the message looks like over the company. In Lewisburg, the latest drawing will be placed in the sky above the gallery site so that the participant can see what it would look like. In San Jose viewers will see a visualization but they will have to go to the company to see with the actual Skywriting looks like.

“Parallel Parking Lot Decorator,” Will Pappenheimer

WE all know that parking lots are very BORING and UNAPPEALING. In Silicon Valley there are huge lots around big computer companies so that all the employees can park and go to their SUPER SMART MYSTERIOUS work DEEP INSIDE. There are similar bland parking lots near smaller towns across America that often surround stores. What if we could decorate these parking lots with fantastic color! What if, when you got out of your car you looked around at HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT COLORS and then YOU WALKED THROUGH THEM on your way to work or to buy stuff at the mall? What if, to SPEED THINGS UP and create COMMUNITY, we could link distant parking lots so that when you decorate one lot you decorate other ones at the SAME TIME!

Now you can, with the Parking Lot Decorator App. You choose a color and size for color panel. Then YOU WALK AROUND WITH YOUR PHONE and CLICK THE PLACE BUTTON to put up the color panel. You can see through the panels so PEOPLE WON’T BE BLINDED. People in distant parking lots will enjoy your choices and you will enjoy theirs.

So WHAT COLORS should we use? Why not use the favorite colors of semiconductor and software companies? When you GO TO THEIR WEBSITES, there is usually a dominant color that matches their logo. Often we find these colors HYPNOTICALLY SOOTHING; like Adobe red, Cisco blue, Yahoo! purple or Google green. These are special colors we all know that represent virtual companies and project a future that is EASIER AND SMARTER than the one we live in now. Let’s use them for the Parallel Parking Lot Decorator and start to LIVEN UP the everyday parking experience.

Set up notes: For this project we will choose and link at least one parking lot at a software company in Silicon Valley, CA and at least one big comparable (mall) parking lot in the area of Lewisburg, PA. A mobile app will be developed that will allow users to choose software company colors, sizes and heights of color panels. They can walk around the designated lots and install color panels that they can then see Layar. The Parallel Parking Lot Decorator app will create simultaneous panels in both distant locations. I will create perhaps a 3rd (miniature) site near the downtown San Jose gallery so that everyone can see what’s being created. We will plan a trip/tour in both locations to decorate parking lots.

One Response to “ManifestAR @ ZERO1 Biennial 2012: Will Pappenheimer”

[…] We all know that parking lots are very boring and unappealing. In Silicon Valley there are huge lots around big computer companies so that all the employees can park and go to their super smart mysterious work deep inside. What if we could decorate these parking lots with fantastic color! Now you can, with the Parking Lot Decorator App. Read more. […]